The Gladiator
Roger Black, known to all as the Gladiator, is the primary antagonist in The X-Adults: Endgame: The Latest Threat, and the tertiary antagonist of The X-Adults: Endgame trilogy (after the Dark Flame and Nebelon). The Gladiator is the leader of the Knights of Plague and Becca Smith's master. The Gladiator founded the Knights of Plague and based its practices off of ancient NoHead teachings. He trained several previous apprentices, with his most prized pupils being Abalan, who later turned, and Becca Smith, mother of Alyssa Smith. The Gladiator was critical in the seduction of Becca to the dark side, and when her turn was complete, the Gladiator christened her as the commander of the Knights of Plague. Background Origins Birth Roger Black was born into a very old, wealthy and gentry family, and raised in the lap of luxury at the family estate, a magnificent mansion in Edgewater which had been in his family’s possession for many centuries. From a very young age, Roger was taught that he was special: Firstly as a mutant, and secondly as Black, whose family name alone commanded respect due to the considerable influence in the government due to their substantial wealth, leadership of New York City going back three generations, and social standing in the community in general. As such, his father, who was known to possess many of the qualities that have distinguished so many of Roger’s ancestors, taught his son about the prudence of maintaining an appearance of respectability to preserve their status of prominence among their kind, as well as the importance of retaining the goodwill of the ruling class from which the family could benefit. Taught to take great pride in his heritage, Roger was encouraged to mainly associate himself with the mutant children of other wealthy families who shared their cast-iron belief in the inherent superiority of powers. Roger began attending Indian River Elementary School in 1983, where he did not get along with the other students. At one point, he sent a student a threatening note for continually pinching his arms. He also overheard a girl expressing her belief that she spotted a boy named Jaden talking to a turtle and believed that she should keep an eye on him. Roger decided not to interfere, though he considered it.The Life and Legends: The Gladiator Superhero School years In 1985, at the age of seven, he discovered the exceptional reality about who he was. An email had arrived to his mother, addressed to him from a place called Superhero School. His mother told him of the message. Roger was not surprised &mdash he had wanted to believe that he was special, different from everyone at his school. The following day, at midnight, Roger's mother woke him, beckoning him into the living room. There, he was surprised to find a woman named Ruby Wright waiting for him. Wright explained to Roger that he was a mutant, what she had revealed to his parents, and that he was to be sent to Superhero School. Ruby took Roger to Ed's Motel, where the two spent the remainder of the night. At 9 p.m., Wright woke Roger and took him to Merchant Alley, where he bought his first sword from George Thames II. From there, he began attending Superhero School, by which time the amount of Dark activity had began to waver steadily, and the community, during the First NoHead War. He quickly became best friends with an adult named Mykew Hadeline, who had returned because of her parents, and the extremely tenacious Sean. In 1996 he became a member of the Fencing Club and was ranked number two on the Club's top-ten duelists list (behind Jamboga Pine). Over time, Roger gathered to himself a gang of thugs, a motley composition of the ambitious seeking glory, the weak seeking protection, and the thuggish turning to a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty, most of which would become the first Knights of Plague. Roger claimed they were his friends, and made it appear so in public, but in truth, they amounted to little more than servants, and he cared almost nothing for them. He often manipulated them into committing petty crimes and other misdeeds, but none of these incidents were reliably traced back to the group. During his school career, he did a very good job academically and displayed above-average intelligence and ability, and his skills in history even earned him the recognition of Supermaul’s successor, who invited him into a group called the Sanders Club. This club consisted of specially-selected students, who, like Roger himself, showed true promise. When he was sixteen, Roger was made a prefect, which showed the hard work he put into appearing a model student in the eyes of his teachers. Of course, he also warmly welcomed Sean and Mykew Hadeline into the fold, as they were close friends. The Knights of Plague After graduating from Superhero School in 1995, Roger disappeared for ten long years. He slipped deeper into the dark side, travelled extensively, consorted with disreputable people, began to become distorted in appearance and lost his handsomeness due to immersing so far in the dark side, and began to use the alias “the Gladiator” openly. Ten years after his disappearance, the Gladiator befriended a wealthy, elderly woman named Harriet Swenson. Harriet showed the Gladiator her home, Swenson Quarters. The Gladiator’s eyes flashed red with greed and avarice upon seeing this place and he desired to live there, because he saw the building to be rightfully his after Harriet’s ancestors stole the mansion from his own. In order to steal this building for himself, the Gladiator killed Harriet. After scouting his family’s old home, he realized there was only one room even he could not access by any means - the Hall of Domination. He covered his tracks well by implanting another false memory into an innocent bystander — Eli, Harriet’s butler. Eli admitted to accidentally putting poison into Harriet’s cocoa, which was believed, as Eli was elderly himself. Meanwhile, the Gladiator took up residence in Swenson Quarters, renaming it Transylvania Quarters. He also learned, much to his shock and horror, that all the early Knights of Plague had been arrested and detained together on the third floor. The rise of the warlord The Gladiator, as he was now exclusively called, spent the next fourteen years before the Battle of Transylvania gathering followers in mutants who called themselves, collectively, the Knights of Plague. Some were supportive of his cause to dominate Fobbles; while others were greedy for domination, wealth and fame; and yet others joined the Dark Lord out of fear. The Gladiator only valued them for their usefulness to him. They freely committed murder mercilessly and indiscriminately. At some point around this time, the Gladiator greatly enhanced his skills in mind control and possession, to the point that he became known to some (primarily the Knights of Plague) as the greatest mind reader in the world. The Gladiator could read, control and unhinge the minds of others, and could almost always tell when he was being lied to. By extension, the Gladiator often enjoyed telepathically invading the minds of others, creating visions designed to torture them into madness. Only after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony, only when he had them literally begging for death, would he finally kill them. Creating the Army During this time, the Gladiator openly used Transylvania Quarters as his home. He had several apprentices before he became invested in the Smith bloodline, believing Alyssa Smith’s mother, Becca Smith, had the right balance of the dark and light sides in her. Alyssa was aware of the influence the Gladiator could have on her mother, but did not inform her father, believing he would not understand, though she did vow to keep Becca away from the dark side. Eventually, the Gladiator turned Becca to the dark side, anointing her commander of the Knights of Plague, and ordered her to destroy the police station. Though Becca failed to destroy it entirely due to its shields projected after Operation: Purge, she did find a weakness in the shields, before Carrie intercepted her. Afraid to face Becca herself, Carrie shot sparks into the air from her gun, before warning Becca that the entire city knew she was there. Becca nodded approval, as this is what the Gladiator had hoped they could accomplish. Just then, Master Intelligence intervened and drove her away with Sebiscuits’ help. To Becca’s surprise, the Gladiator forgave her for her failure and congratulated her for her efforts. In August 2033, the Gladiator traveled to Bast Castle. Here, he recovered Nagatha’s corpse, mere months after the battle. Using a capsule, the Gladiator brought her to Transylvania Quarters. There, he brought her back from the dead by unknown means, and, realizing she had nowhere to go, took her under his custody. From that day forth, Nagatha served the Gladiator and the Knights of Plague, which the Gladiator was just barely forming when he found her. The Gladiator also Apparated to Beta Prison. There, he blew open the entire third floor, releasing several mutants, many of which knew him and were already loyal. Now he had many minions to do his bidding, and they became his followers, known as the Knights of Plague. Personality Roger Black, or the Gladiator, was a calculating and reserved military leader as well as a powerful master of the Darkness. Truly cruel, the Gladiator clearly took pleasure in his evil work and, as evidenced by his torturing and murdering Alicia for the pleasure of his followers, is shown to be sadistic enough to toy with his enemies, smile at their pleas for mercy, before finally killing them. Becca Smith of the Knights of Plague described the Gladiator as “wise”, while Master Intelligence and Andromeda believed he was manipulative and that he exploited mutants such as Becca herself only for their power. The Gladiator was a quick learner, having a vast knowledge of the past and of the Darkness. He displayed tendencies unusual for practitioners of the Darkness, displaying an interest in Becca Smith due to her embodiment of a balance between both the Light and Darkness, as opposed to only one aspect. Despite all of his negative traits, he is rather plucky and has a rather decent sense of humor, as not all of his jokes are even at the expense of others, and has been seen moving comedically. For instance, he claimed that since Becca Smith is claustrophobic, that merely means she is better at thinking outside the box, and he claimed Nagatha would need assistance in making ends meet, and he sarcastically asked Lindsay Kellerman if Master Intelligence had merely forgotten to teach her how to count. The Gladiator showed little emotion, appeared very calm, and didn’t appear to be in any form of worry or distress despite the circumstances against him and the Knights of Plague, only truly showing annoyance when George interrupted him and began to stutter. When Alicia convinced the government to have Transylvania Quarters torn down, he calmly expressed his wishes without showing any form of anger or annoyance, a stark contrast to his apprentice Becca Smith, who was prone to violent outbursts when faced with frustration. Physical appearance The Gladiator was very tall, standing at a height of seven feet, and muscular with large hands. The Gladiator had an elongated face with pale, hardened skin and sickly yellow eyes. He sported a large scar from the top of his head, all the way down to his brow. The Gladiator wore a simple cloak with shoulder pads, and tended to speak slowly and enunciate his desires with a forceful undertone. Powers and abilities The Gladiator was incredibly talented in the Darkness, and although he was not as powerful as Mr. Stupid NoHead, he was still one of the strongest evildoers of all time. Powers *'Darkness:' The Gladiator possessed a masterful knowledge of the most unknown and complex superpowers that a mutant was capable of, and was also a masterful practitioner of torture, with a special affinity for death beams, having murdered at least two dozen people, and was known to have cast this attack effectively while he was still an adolescent. The Gladiator was also capable of developing Dark powers of his own, though most resulted in failure. Apparently, he only chose to face opponents whom he saw as worthy adversaries. The only duelists who was shown to truly be the Gladiator’s equal were Master Intelligence and Abalan. It ultimately took the S.M.S.B. leader and NoHead prodigy to defeat him, though Master Intelligence only did by sheer luck. **'Electricity manipulation:' On one occasion, he also demonstrated the ability to redirect already existing electricity. During his battle with X1 in Florida, he was able to gather residual electricity from the lightning rods surrounding the battleground and blast it at his opponent. The Gladiator also demonstrated the ability to both block and redirect lightning with the Dark side, as he demonstrated during his duel with Abalan within the Imperial Palace. He could also use his sword to ground extremely high-intensity blasts of lightning with little effort. **'Fire manipulation:' In addition, the Gladiator could manipulate the elements of fire, which amplified when he was angry. **'Mind control/Telepathy:' The Gladiator was incredibly adept in the use of both Mind resistance and Mind invasion, being able to shield his own mind and penetrate the minds of others. He was particularly skilled in Mind invasion, and gained a reputation as one of the most accomplished invader the world has ever seen. His frighteningly tremendous possession powers allowed the Gladiator to delve and peer deep into the minds of others, seeing their deepest thoughts, and according to Andromeda, the Gladiator could not only read, but also control and unhinge the minds of others, with him often enjoying telepathically invading the minds of others, creating visions designed to torture them into madness (such as the one he sent to Lindsay Kellerman in 2041), and only killing them "after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony", when he had them literally begging for death. Hence, the Gladiator could almost always tell when someone was lying. The most remarkable part about this skill was that he seemed to be working on it while he was still a child in elementary school. Extremely few people were skilled enough in Mind resistance to shield themselves from him. Annabeth, Master Intelligence, Mr. Stupid NoHead, and also possibly X2 were notable exceptions to this. Additionally, X1 discovered that he could block the Gladiator's intrusions into his mind by feeling love, as direct contact with X1's mind while he was feeling love was excruciatingly painful for the Gladiator. **'Red energy field projection:' The Gladiator also used a power similar to telekinetic destruction when facing Abalan in the Imperial Palace. In this instance, he surrounded himself several times with a red energy field which he would subsequently unleash at Abalan. On a similar note, the aforementioned energy field also functioned as a barrier that Abalan could not penetrate with either the Light side or with his sword. Thus it would appear that the Gladiator retained his skill at creating mutant barriers. This degree of power, coupled with his blatant morals, made him an extremely dangerous adversary indeed. Abilities *'Fencing:' The Gladiator was an exceptionally skillful sword duelist, preferring to use Ataru, being able to hold his own against the likes of Master Intelligence and Nagatha. He was also able to overpower many other prodigious mutants, and was responsible for the death of Lewis. His dueling style was, ironically, much like Master Intelligence’s in its unpredictability: he could instinctively switch styles in the blink of an eye, and was extremely aggressive, using powerful dark side techniques and masterful fencing moves to overwhelm his opponents. However, despite his skill, the Gladiator's method was not perfect. Particularly during situations where he believed himself to be facing an inferior opponent, the Gladiator could be taken off-guard or frustrated, causing lapses in his usually staunch defense. For example, during his duel with Abalan in the Imperial Palace, the Gladiator began the duel with an all-out offense, believing he would quickly overwhelm his opponent. Abalan however, initially took a defensive stance against the Gladiator, blocking or dancing around the Gladiator's attacks while expending as little energy as possible. Additionally, Abalan's misled taunts interfered with his focus. Ultimately, the Gladiator expended most of his energy in an unsuccessful attempt to batter Abalan into submission and was brought down when Abalan suddenly counter-attacked with lightning, breaking the Gladiator's momentum and causing the duel to shift decisively in Abalan's favor. However, the Gladiator quickly learned from his mistake, as he demonstrated during his duel with X1 in Florida a few months later. During this battle, he utilized a more defensive set of tactics against Abalan and maintained a more controlled, less prideful mindset. As a result, X1, who was even more powerful than his template, ultimately came to the conclusion that the best he could possibly hope for in a duel against the Gladiator was a stalemate. As such, X1 was forced to resort to trickery to defeat the Gladiator, banking on the hope that his former Master's desire to keep him alive would provide him with an opening if he offered to surrender. *'Leadership skills:' Even at a young age, the Gladiator displayed a talent for the manipulation of others, being able to hide his true nature from most of the teachers at Superhero School, and surrounding himself with a group of friends who would become Knights of Plague. Sebiscuits noted that the Gladiator also used tricks, powers, and blackmail to get people to join him. Under his leadership, the forerunners of the Knights of Plague were able to sneak past surveillance while acting under Roger's command, with several nasty incidences that were never connected to them, showing that even at a young age, the Gladiator was a very competent leader. As he slipped further into the Dark side, his style of leadership presumably changed from the original charismatic rule of his friends to the tyrannical and completely ruthless — though no less effective — command of his Knights demonstrated throughout the Second Cold War. The best example of his efficiency as a leader would be the fact that he, with the help of less than forty united Knights, completely overwhelmed and came very close to dominating the entire population. Appearances ''Before The SMSB: Where is the Darkness? In 2035, Master Intelligence received wind that Nagatha had come back to life. Whilst trying to investigate, Master Intelligence, while he was alone, met the Gladiator for the first time. Realizing the Gladiator was too dangerous to be left alive, he immediately attempted to cut him down, but to no avail, as the Gladiator Apparated away with Nagatha. Master Intelligence immediately realized it was the Gladiator who had brought Nagatha back from the dead. The X-Adults: Endgame: The Latest Threat The search for the Orb The Gladiator was now after the aforementioned Orb of Power housed in the Hall of Domination, wanting to use its power for himself and perpetuate the Knights of Plague. The Gladiator’s first attempt at securing the orb was to have George possess government official Fredrick Stewart and send him to take the orb. During the autumn of 2041, he captured a Muggle named Alicia who tried to have their base destroyed, and killed her during a meeting at Transylvania Quarters with the Knights of Plague before feeding her to Nagatha. During this time, he learned from Becca that the orb was in the Hall of Domination, the aforementioned room they could not breach. However, Fredrick was unable to get into the Hall of Domination. His next attempt was to possess a police officer named Russell Stewart. He was ordered to retrieve the orb, but was seriously injured in the process and was put into a permanent ward at NYC Hospital. Eventually, the Gladiator planned a full-scale attack on the MBH. His plan was to send Nagatha to find a breaking point, before he and his High Generals barged in, soon to be accompanied by the rest. While heading to the site of the planned slaughter, Nagatha recovered news that Alyssa and Andromeda are indeed the same person. Although this news shocked the Gladiator, he did not reveal this to Becca (Alyssa's mother). He then sent Nagatha to find a breaking point in the building. The Gladiator told Nagatha to head inside, despite Becca Smith’s wish to participate, and Nagatha began her search. Master Intelligence barely managed to escape, thanks to the intervention of Andromeda and Sebiscuits Cardarphen. When the Gladiator saw Nagatha being hurled out a window and forced to Teleport to Transylvania Quarters, he realized that she had not found an entry point, and ordered a retreat. Shortly afterwards, the Gladiator resorted to sending Augustus Salt to the Hall of Domination. He injured Percy, who was guarding the orb, but was unable to acquire it himself. Afterwards, the Gladiator tried a different tactic — he used a telepathic link through Lindsay Kellerman to cause her to go there instead. Battle of Transylvania Becca Smith and George later returned to Transylvania Quarters to communicate with the Gladiator via hologram. George proposed using their base’s superweapon to destroy the police’s sanctuary before figuring out how to destroy their headquarters, an undertaking which the Gladiator authorized. He then spoke with Becca privately, asking if she had felt an awakening in the Light. He ordered Becca to kill her daughter to overcome her temptation by the light. Meanwhile, the S.M.S.B. flew to Transylvania Quarters, where they descended to Level 11 and down the corridor to the Chamber of Mystery. When they finally arrived at the Hall of Domination, in the row where the Gladiator was supposed to be waiting, they spotted the Orb of Power, and Telekinibabe seized it. Accompanied by twelve Knights of Plague — Rudolph Lestange, Sebastian Lestange, Wallace Blanks, Nolan Giles, Eve Higgins, John Webb, Caberra, Augustus Salt, Monroe, George, and second-in-command Becca Smith, the Gladiator emerged to pry the orb from Master Intelligence’s hands, upon seeing Telekinibabe hand it to him. Master Intelligence refused, however, and the S.M.S.B. attempted to flee. As the Knights of Plague pursued, Master Intelligence, Lindsay, and Andromeda fled to the edge of the shelf, where Becca and the Gladiator intercepted them. However, Sebiscuits intervened and blasted them away. Seeing everyone meet there, Master Intelligence telekinetically smashed the shelves, allowing them to flee. Thinking quickly, the Gladiator Apparated to the door leading into the Death Chamber, where the others were headed. He ordered the Knights to pursue the members as they made their entry. Upon entering, the Gladiator realized that Lindsay had the orb. He blackmailed her into handing it over, then proceeded to reveal the Grand Nuke the S.M.S.B. members sought, carrying the capacity to destroy the entire continent. Ignoring Master Intelligence's taunts, the Gladiator unleashed it, but Red X (who had broken free) sacrificed her life, running into the bomb and causing herself a slow, painful death. The bomb never passed her torso, negating the range it needed. Meanwhile, Baby Strength freed the others. Master Intelligence, Lindsay Kellerman, Telekinibabe, Andromeda, and Force Baby, and Sebiscuits reclaimed their weapons, and the battle continued. The Gladiator's mission to obtain the Orb were ultimately a failure when he accidentally dropped it into an abyss. The Gladiator moved to attack the fleeing members, but Master Intelligence leaped upward, knocking him away and attacking the villain, reclaiming his sword. The two engaged in a titanic duel that ended when both opponents went tumbling off the platform, clinging on for dear life. Meanwhile, Andromeda tried to bring Becca Smith back to the light, only for her own mother to murder her. In rage and grief, Force Baby wounded Smith and proceeded to shoot down several unsuspecting Knights much to the struggling Gladiator’s horror. As the Gladiator returned to the platform and reclaimed his sword, Master Intelligence slipped and fell off the platform, desperately clinging to a pole attached to the wall. The Gladiator chased Master Intelligence onto a balcony overlooking the abyss, slashing at him. When Intelligence tried to climb back up, the Gladiator slammed Intelligence off the balcony, but he managed to hold on and ended up pulling the Gladiator along. The Gladiator quickly grabbed on to a pole. As he raised himself in position to kill Master Intelligence, the pole started to break off and he dropped his sword. Lindsay immediately pulled Intelligence on top and Intelligence levitated the Gladiator there. As Master Intelligence captured the Gladiator with cords, the three surviving Knights of Plague attacked. However, Master Intelligence enforced their surrender and capture, just as Becca Smith was killed by Cardarphen. Aftermath After the battle, the Gladiator was captured and taken to court. After the session was over, he was detained in the top cell of a prison he himself had built to hold his enemies. He remained there for life, with no chance of release. At the bequest of the ex-overlord, all other inmates were incarcerated. Everybody regretted the deaths of Red X and Andromeda, but as a result of it they all survived. Non-canonical appearances ''The Gladiator: Ultimate Cloning Edition Cloning a new apprentice In the aftermath of Abalan’s death, the Gladiator brought the body of his former apprentice to Florida, where he stored it in a secret chamber in the Tallahassee Cloning Facility. With Abalan’s body serving as a genetic template, the Dark Lord endeavored to create the perfect version of his fallen disciple — a clone that possessed all of Abalan’s power, but none of his weaknesses. Due to initial imperfections in the accelerated cloning process and the inherent difficulty involved in cloning from a mutated template, the first batch of clones developed extreme mental and physical deformations. As time progressed, the project began to generate superficially stable clones. However, it was soon revealed that these subjects were haunted by various memories and personality fragments of their template. Although many of these clones made it far in their trials, none of them were able to develop stable personalities of their own. The clones would ultimately go on to become fixated on one or two elements of the original Abalan’s life, and eventually all of them descended into madness.The Gladiator: Ultimate Cloning Edition Another failure As the Gladiator’s secret project continued to develop through trial and error, one clone in particular showed a great deal of promise. The clone progressed far enough in his training that the Gladiator considered dispatching him to China to execute Ronald Koda. Although he was impressed with the clone’s progress, he knew that this subject was just as troubled by Abalan’s memories as all of the other clones had been. In order to see if the clone was truly strong enough to overcome his template’s emotions, the Gladiator provided the clone with a challenge to destroy NoHead Training Robots that had taken on the holographic appearance of police officers. Although the clone easily destroyed the officers, sparing no feelings for the organization that his progenitor helped to create, he was suddenly dumbfounded by the robot that had taken on the image of a woman he recognized as Annabeth. When the Gladiator commanded the clone to strike her down and demanded that he hate that which Abalan loved, the clone struggled to obey, but ultimately refused. His fears confirmed, the Gladiator destroyed the training robot, causing the image of Annabeth to disappear. Disappointed with yet another failure, the Dark mutant revealed to the confused clone the fact that he had tried many times before to create a perfect version of his original apprentice, only to fail when it came to purging them of Abalan’s emotional imprints. Despite the successful growth and progress of a different clone of Abalan, the Gladiator lied to the clone, telling him that the accelerated cloning process was still imperfect. Before the Gladiator could rectify his mistake by killing his latest failed experiment, the clone unleashed a blast of lightning at his master after receiving a vision of the Gladiator’s first betrayal of the original Abalan. While the Gladiator was momentarily dazed by the attack, the clone blasted a hole through a wall and jumped outside in order to escape. In response, the Gladiator alerted the cloning facility’s garrison and commanded them to kill the clone but none of the guards succeeded. With his forces having little to no success in killing or stalling the clone, the Gladiator moved to intercept him before he could escape. The Gladiator was too late however, and the clone stole his N-66 skyfighter and escaped from Florida. During the clone’s travels, he became known by the codename of X1 after refusing to go by his progenitor’s birth name. Hiring a bounty hunter Shortly after the clone’s escape, the Gladiator contacted Xydarone IV, a bounty hunter whose skills he knew would make her a reliable asset to the Dark Lord. When Xydarone arrived in Florida, she surveyed the damage to Tallahassee and concluded that it would take some time to discover X1’s whereabouts. Knowing that the bounty hunter would never be able to capture or defeat X1 directly, the Gladiator commanded Xydarone to abduct Annabeth, a valuable member of the NoHeads. Since the clone had inherited his template’s emotional attachment to Annabeth, the Gladiator anticipated that the clone would never be able to resist returning to Florida to save Annabeth Black. Despite her own talents, Xydarone knew that she was not capable of single-handedly assaulting the NoHead Base and abducting an extremely powerful (albeit somewhat undeveloped) Dark mutant all on her own. To that end, she requested that the Gladiator provide her with enough F7 war robots to aid her in completing her mission, though she lacked confidence in the troopers’ ability to survive. The Gladiator’s only concern was bringing the clone back to Florida, regardless of how many resources he had to use to achieve this goal. As such, the Gladiator provided Xydarone with a far greater and more capable force than she had requested, including Terror Troopers, TDBs, Terror Biobots, and a Terror Walker. The "perfect" clone of Abalan Around this time, the Gladiator was training another clone that showed a great deal of potential. Unsurprisingly, this clone inherited the same disturbing memories and emotions of his genetic template just like his brothers before him. Upon being released from his cloning tank, the clone was confronted by Abalan’s memories of Annabeth and Laleh Clipso, thus causing the clone to ask about their whereabouts. The Gladiator simply stated that the two girls were irrelevant, and all that mattered was the training that lay ahead for the clone. In the early phase of his training, the clone revealed to the Gladiator that he possessed memories, but could not tell if they actually belonged to him. Having dealt with enough of Abalan’s clones suffering from an identity crisis, the Gladiator knew all too well what the clone was talking about. He simply explained that the clone was copied from the cells of Abalan’s corpse, thus allowing him to inherit the original Abalan’s strengths and weaknesses. Although the clone continued to survive in his trials, the Gladiator was not yet fully convinced that this was the one he sought to create, recalling all of the other clones that made it far in their training — only to fail in the end. Even though the clone was determined to not fail his Master, it didn’t stop him from becoming curious about the exact number of clones that came before him, or from wondering about what his progenitor was like as a person before he died. The Gladiator dismissed the clone’s questions as pointless curiosity. All that mattered to him was if any more clones would be created if this one failed. With Abalan dead and his power surpassed by the clone, the Gladiator felt that delving into the details of his original apprentice’s identity was irrelevant. To the amazement of both the lead cloning technician and the Gladiator, the clone was gradually able to compartmentalize his template’s memories while forming new ones of his own. Thus, he succeeded in achieving what none of his brothers were capable of doing — holding Abalan’s memories as separate from his own experience. By doing so, the clone had come to know for certain that he was a copy and that the original Abalan was truly dead. The Gladiator greatly approved, and promised to prove what the clone already knew to be true. That proof was revealed by the Gladiator to be the body of the late Abalan, stored within a cold chamber in Tallahassee. By seeing Abalan’s corpse with his own eyes, the clone understood that he had succeeded where all of the clones failed before him, and that he was well on his way to fulfilling the purpose of his creation — much to the Gladiator’s delight. Battle of Florida When Xydarone returned to Tallahassee with both Laleh Clipso and Annabeth Black as her prisoners, the Gladiator greeted all three of them in person. Although he was slightly tempted to summarily execute Annabeth for her loyalty to the NoHeads, the Knight maintained his focus on using Annabeth as bait to lure Abalan’s wayward clone back to Florida. Xydarone wanted to leave the city before the battle commenced, as she believed her job to be finished and had no desire to encounter the vengeful X1. However, The Gladiator commanded the bounty hunter to remain in the city until X1 was once again in Imperial custody, and withheld Xydarone’s payment to strong-arm her into doing so. Accompanied by a squad of robot soldiers, the Gladiator and his prisoners proceeded to a tower located at the top of the cloning facility. When the battle began, X1 directed the Rescuer on a collision course with Tallahassee. While Clipso and the robots became increasingly nervous, the Gladiator maintained a calm stance and awaited the clone’s return. While the first half of the ship crashed into the cloning facility, X1 destroyed the second solid fragment so as to not inadvertently harm Clipso and Annabeth, the latter who had been trying to redirect its path. While the clone made his way to the top of the facility, killing all forces in his way, the Gladiator secured Clipso in the tower, tightened Annabeth’s bonds, and moved to confront his former apprentice. The duel between Master and apprentice Within the cloning facility, the Gladiator and X1 engaged in a sword duel. While X1 pressed his attack and demanded to know where Clipso and Annabeth were, the Gladiator stood his ground against the clone. Having learned his lesson after nearly being killed by Abalan, the Gladiator refrained from the same sort of reckless offense that he utilized against Abalan. He fought more defensively and cautiously, knowing that the cloned Abalan was not to be taken lightly. In order to stall and demoralize X1, the Gladiator unleashed various imperfect clones of Abalan and commanded them to attack their renegade brother. X1 was shocked to see that there were other clones of Abalan besides himself, and realized that he was wrong in believing that the Gladiator had lied about creating other clones before him. These clones however, presented no real threat to X1, and he easily dispatched them. After defeating the aberrant clones, X1 pursued the Gladiator all the way to the cloning tower where he found Annabeth and Laleh Clipso, both at the Gladiator’s mercy. The mutant elevated Annabeth off of the ground and began choking her through the Darkness. The Gladiator gave the clone a final chance to surrender, or watch as he killed Annabeth. Overwhelmed with fear and concern for Annabeth’s life, X1 dropped his swords and obeyed, promising to serve the Dark mutant once more as long as Annabeth remained unharmed and Clipso was given the same. Satisfied, the Gladiator released Annabeth from his grip and commanded the clone to kill General Koda. With nothing but silent compliance from the clone, the Gladiator told X1 that he would go on to become fully immersed in the Darkness and that he would execute the police; resistance or failure to meet any of the Gladiator’s expectations would cost Clipso her life. However, Annabeth rebounded and attempted to assassinate the Gladiator with one of the clone’s swords. Warned by his senses at the last second, the Gladiator narrowly dodged her strike, turning her attempted death blow into a gash on his breast. In retaliation, the Gladiator blasted Annabeth out of the tower, causing her to fall on a landing platform before losing consciousness. The Gladiator then hurled Clipso after her. In a rage, X1 grabbed both of his sabers and attacked the Gladiator, only to be thrown out of the tower as well. Before he could get to his friends, the Gladiator leaped out of the tower and landed on the platform, purposely standing between the clone and the girls. Although initially X1 could not understand why the Gladiator would risk his life by damaging or even destroying the two tools he could use to control him, the clone came to believe that the Gladiator had wanted Annabeth and Laleh Clipso dead all along. By killing them, the Gladiator intended to remove X1’s only reason for resisting his purpose as a Knight of Plague, thus causing X1 to fall headlong back into the fold of the Darkness. Finishing the duel As the two engaged in combat once more, the Gladiator tried to convince the clone to rise above his concern for Clipso and Annabeth, stating that their lives were meaningless and that her death fueled his strength in the Darkness. He reminded the clone that his feelings for the woman were counterfeit, nothing more than the emotional imprints left behind by a man who was no longer even alive. Between trying to kill the Gladiator and get to Clipso and Annabeth, X1 came to suspect that he and his master were more alike than he first believed. He came to wonder how far the Gladiator had gone to serve the Darkness, and how far the latter would go to destroy Mr. Stupid NoHead in order to replace him. With these thoughts, the clone managed to calm himself to a degree, and he tried to suggest that the Gladiator work with the police against the NoHead Grandmaster. The Gladiator ignored this statement and continued his attacks with increasing aggression, making it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with the police. As the duel progressed, X1 came to the conclusion that, despite his memories of having bested the Gladiator as Abalan, the Gladiator’s adjustments to his combat technique had resulted in a situation where the best outcome X1 could hope to achieve in their duel was a stalemate. This problem was further exacerbated by the fact that the Gladiator wished to keep X1 alive, and was fighting to disable rather than kill. As such, X1 formulated a plan to feign surrender for the sole purpose of getting the Gladiator to drop his guard, hoping that the Gladiator’s desire to keep him alive would provide him with an opening. The battle nearly ended when the Gladiator managed to disarm X1 and destroy his swords. The Gladiator taunted his weaponless opponent, telling him he had one last chance to surrender, or he would die. X1 appeared to capitulate and the Gladiator, believing the fight was over, dropped his guard. What the Gladiator didn’t know however, was that X1 had been waiting for just such an opportunity. As soon as the Gladiator lowered his guard, X1 absorbed a lightning bolt from a nearby lightning rod and used it in conjunction with his own powers to unleash an extremely powerful electrical blast at the Gladiator. The blast hit the Gladiator’s busom, directly striking the gash that Annabeth had carved into it with her earlier surprise attack. The Gladiator was injured by the lightning to the point where he could no longer defend himself, and Abalan used the opportunity to telekinetically pull the Gladiator’s sword from his hand. The Gladiator fell to one knee as X1 swept the Gladiator’s own sword up at his throat. Before X1 could decide to kill the Dark Lord, Ronald Koda arrived with his squad and urged the clone to spare the Gladiator’s life, but only so that the police could take the Gladiator as its prisoner. X1, torn between Koda’s reasons and the desire to take revenge, was conflicted over what to do at first. As he struggled with this internal conflict, he also recalled his earlier vision of what might happen to him if he chose to take revenge. While Koda implored X1 to think of the valuable information that the Gladiator could provide the police with, the Gladiator goaded the clone to embrace his destiny and strike him down. In the end, X1 spared the Gladiator’s life, turning away from the Darkness. As such, X2 stayed his hand as well, since the Gladiator’s life was no longer in immediate jeopardy. The Gladiator was subsequently arrested by Koda and heavily restrained aboard the Shadow Laser, while X1 tended to Annabeth, who had barely survived the Knight’s attack on her. A prisoner of the police After being secured in a harness that covered most of his body and completely restricted his ability to move, the Gladiator was placed inside the Shadow Laser’s meditation chamber. There, X1 visited the captured Dark mutant shortly before the police fleet departed from Florida. Although he nearly lost his confidence at the sight of his former Master, X1 began mocking the Gladiator by gloating on how he chose to spare his life. Although he remained uncertain over his own origins, he dismissed it as irrelevant, stating that he had succeeded in breaking the Gladiator’s hold over him. Throughout X1’s short display of new-found confidence in himself, the Gladiator remained silent the entire time and did not indulge the clone with the answers he sought. Seeing the pointlessness in his actions, X1 turned to leave. But at that moment, the Gladiator declared to the clone that he would never be free as long as Laleh Clipso and Annabeth lived. Refusing to give the Gladiator the satisfaction of seeing the uncertainty in his eyes, X1 exited the meditation chamber and left the Gladiator in the darkness of the room where he was confined. After the police fleet left Florida, X1, Annabeth, and Clipso took control of the Shadow Laser and departed for Oklahoma with the Gladiator on board as their prisoner — unaware that they were being followed by Xydarone's skyfighter (implying that the Gladiator anticipated the possibility that X1 would capture him instead of killing him and used the opportunity to track the Orb of Power for which he sought). At some point prior to his meeting with Master Intelligence, the Gladiator escaped from captivity and resumed his quest to gather followers and create the Knights of Plague. Possessions Sword In Superhero School, the Gladiator built his sword. Like most Supers, it is his most prized possession. His sword is made of durasteel, a sword with the powers of evil. The sword is in deliberate contrast to the sword of Master Intelligence, whose material has the powers to repel evil. The Gladiator’s sword shared a twin energizer with Master Intelligence’s sword, as both were made of space rocks. The Gladiator would lose this sword after his arrest in 2042. Home The Gladiator lived in Transylvania Quarters ever since he stole it from Harriet Swenson, after the Swensons stole it from the Blacks in the 1500s. It is unknown what happened to it after the Gladiator was arrested. Snake In August 2033, the Gladiator traveled to Bast Castle. Here, he recovered Nagatha’s corpse and brought her to Transylvania Quarters. There, he brought her back from the dead and, realizing she had nowhere to go, took her under his custody. From that day forth, Nagatha was his pet, loyally serving the Gladiator and the Knights of Plague. She was killed by Andromeda. Relationships Etymology “Roger” means “famous spear” from the Germanic elements hrod “fame” and ger “spear”. The Normans brought this name to England, where it replaced the Old English cognate Hroðgar (the name of the Danish king in the Anglo-Saxon epic ‘Beowulf’). During the Middle Ages, it was a common name in England. References Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Mutants Category:Males Category:The X-Adults: Endgame characters Category:Villains Category:The Super Babies villains Category:Knights of Plague Category:Military characters Category:Psychics Category:Prisoners Category:D.I.T. characters